THE MEDIA BUSINESS

THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Comedy Central Picks New Chief

By JAMES STERNGOLD

Published: February 18, 1999

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 17—
Ending a closely watched talent search, the Comedy Central cable channel has decided to name Larry Divney, an advertising executive at the channel, as president and chief executive, people close to the company said today.

The choice, which could be announced as early as Thursday, is noteworthy because Comedy Central is going with an insider as well as an executive who does not have a background as a developer of programming. Mr. Divney is the channel's executive vice president.

Reached late today, officials at Time Warner Inc. and Viacom Inc., which own Comedy Central, confirmed the appointment. The officials said Mr. Divney was not available for comment.

The major networks have been struggling with declining audiences because of competition from cable channels and other forms of entertainment, including the Internet. As a result, they have been looking to outsiders, principally from cable, to inject life into their programming.

Mr. Divney's predecessor, Douglas Herzog, was hired at the end of last year as the president of Fox Entertainment, with Fox executives making clear that they hoped he would bring the kind of fresh ideas that have characterized many cable channels. In addition, NBC hired Scott Sassa, who had spent most of his career at the Turner cable company, to run its entertainment division last year.

Under Mr. Herzog, Comedy Central, an all-comedy channel that was founded eight years ago and has 56 million subscribers, developed offbeat but popular programs. These included ''South Park,'' an animated show filled with foul language and violence that has attracted a small but ardent following and is one of the most-watched shows on cable.

Jeffrey L. Bewkes, the chairman of Time Warner's HBO unit, which oversees the company's interest in Comedy Central, said the channel had searched widely, talking to successful comedy producers, studio executives, network executives and even a print journalist, Kurt Andersen, an editor at The New Yorker and the former editor of New York magazine. They went with Mr. Divney, he said, largely because he had been with Comedy Central from its beginning and had a clear grasp of its unusual style.

''He grew up with the channel and he understood it better than anyone,'' Mr. Bewkes said.

Thomas Freston, the chairman of MTV Networks, the Viacom unit that oversees the company's interest in Comedy Central, said Mr. Divney would focus on refining the channel's position as a provider of offbeat fare.

''He will chisel down what the channel wants to be in the world of comedy,'' he said. He added that the channel would not try to compete with the networks in developing mainstream programming but would continue to focus on alternative shows.